Shoe and method of making the same



Dec. 17, 1935. KENT, JR 2,024,167

SHOE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Jan. 26, 1934 zi i aiwmwg Patented Dec. 1 7, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE John S. Kent, J12, Brockton, Mass., assignor to M. A. Packard Company, Brockton, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 26, 1934, Serial No. 708,399

7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in shoes and methods of making the same.

It applies more particularly to shoes in which the outsole, preferably of rubber or a rubber composition, has its union with the upper protected by an edge barrier strip of thick tough rubber, which, upstanding from the level of the very bottom face of the outsole, is secured around the edge of that sole and the lower face of the upper by cement .or other suitable adhesive.

Shoes of this general type being already known, the invention provides improvements which are set forth more fully below, in the method and details of construction and in the final product. Reference is made to the accompanying drawing for illustration of a construction which is at presentpreferred for embodying the invention, and to the appended claims for the pointing out of that which is claimed to be the invention or discovery. It is intended that the patent shall cover, by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever of patentable invention is contained in the disclosure herein made.

The invention is especially applicable to shoes for outing wear, in which case it makes for comfort, ease and lightness of shoe as well as for economy of cost. In describing an embodiment of the invention herein it will be assumed that the insole and upper are of leather, but the construction which the invention provides is so strong that lower grades of material may be used with success, and 1 1th an improved durability of such materials and of the shoe into which they are combined.

The cemented barrier strip, going all around the shoe, constitutes a protection covering all possible horizontal cleavages at the edge of the sole. All side strains and blows on the sole when the shoe is being worn are thus resisted, as well as all scufling by the wearer, and the sole is kept from curling away from its original setting. The applying of this barrier or scufiing strip involves a sealed joint, which is a feature of the invention, extending nearly an inch up from the ground, parallel to the upper. The possibility of cleavage .at the vertical joint is prevented by 50 the combined flexibility and security of its fastening. This includes a combination of the parallel laying of a covered inbound intermediate strip, friction cementing, concealed stitching, and decorative calking, which all combine to maintain the barrier strip normally plumb in its upstanding position, while allowing pronounced ease of flexure in walking or running. The intermediate strip which permits of the making of this construction accurately, securely and economically, is rigged on the outside of the 5 lowest part of the upper, without being lasted into the bottom of the shoe, but running upward from the top of the outsole. Lines of stitching, low and high, make it secure on the upper. Made of soft strong flexible material, such as a 10 thin canvas into which rubber has been ground by rolls and pressure, comparable to friction tape, its adhesive face makes for the strong securing of the barrier strip, "and its tensile strength and stitches make for a firm union with 15 the upper.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a shoe embodying features of the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan of a vamp having a perforated 20 guide line thereon for placing the intermediate strip and piping or calking strip, a fragment of which is represented stitched to the vamp; and

Figure 3 is an elevation in section on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Shoes embodying the invention have uppers ll] of any ordinary or desired material, design and construction, for example, white leather with plain undecorated surface, as for a low cut outing shoe, with or without lining H. In the illustration the upper I0 of leather and its lining 12 of canvas are lasted under the inner sole I 4 and held thereto by cement adhesion but they may be held by staples or any other well known or suitable manner. In the sole is a bottom filler l6, which in the instance illustrated is shown as overlying the turned-in edges of the upper (speaking of the shoe as when inverted on the last) and reaching laterally out to a place where, in the finished shoe, its edge is flush with the edge of the outsole. In fact, it constitutes a duplicate of the outsole, as regards shape and area, and it extends a trifle outside of where the upper turns in at the edge of the last. Clo-extensive with this. filler l6, which may be of stout smoked rubber, is the outsole l8, which may be of crepeh'ubber, both being firmly cemented together and the filler being cemented to the inturned edges of upper and to the insole in approximate parallelism with the insole, according to methods that are well known, or 0 being otherwise secured.

Other kinds of rubber may be used if desired.

Surrounding the lower part of the vamp l0; upstanding beside it and stitched to it at two levels, is the thin strong intermediate adhesion strip 20. This may be of leather, but preferably is of stout fabric firmly secured by the stitching 22, 24, all of which strip and stitching is covered in the finished shoe by the edge barrier strip 26 of stout crepe rubber. The upper line 22 of that stitching also firmly secures to the upper a strip of decorative piping 28 which may be white or of any color and visibly decorates the finished shoe at the upper edge of the barrier strip 26.

The intermediate adhesion strip 20 being of thin strong material, into which rubber has been ground, or impregnated, the barrier strip 26 of crepe rubber can be made to adhere strongly to it by cement alone, and thus be secured strongly to the upper It] as well as to the edges of outsole l8 and of sole filler l6.

The method of manufacture is that the intermediate strip 20 and the piping 28 are stitched to the upper while it is flat, prior to the lasting. The upper will ordinarily be cut by pattern for each last; and this pattern can be made with a uniform allowance for the turning in of the edge of the upper over the bottom of the last, for example, five-eighths of an inch. The correct P0517 tioning of the intermediate strip on the fiat upp ei r before lasting may then be accomplished as fo lows: by a sewing machine having no threadain its needle, or by any other marking means having a gauge, make a line 30 at the proper distance in from the edge of the upper. Then stitch the intermediate strip 20 in place on' the face of the upper, guided by that line. Or, in some cases, the strip can be applied directly, without a preliminary-line, guided by an appliance on the sewing machine running along the edge of an upper made by a pattern having due uniform marginal allow- When the upper shall have been lasted and the outsole attached this intermediate strip will then be found surrounding the lower part of i the upper, next to the outsole, with the lower edge of the intermediate strip abutting on the top face of the edge portion of the outsole or, as illustrated in the present case, abutting against the upper face of the filler which is practically a part of the outsole and lies between the outsole and that part of the upper that is lasted inward.

In Figure 2 a fragment of the intermediate strip 20 is shown, with one edge set to the perforated guide line 30, and. stitched at 24 along that edge, and also stitched to the upper at its other edge at 22, with the piping 28 intervening between it and the upper and caught by the stitches 22. There may be multiple lines of stitching if greater strength of union of the upper is required; and they may go through the lining if desired.

The intermediate strip 20 does not interfere with thelasting of the upper; and yet, after the lasting is completed, it presents an outer surface flush with the edge of the outsole and has its lower edge so low. that it is practically a. vertical continuation of the edge face of the sole, the edge part of the coextensive filler I 6 counting as a part of the outsole, against which the lower edge of the intermediate strip 20 is abutted close to a line of laterally punctured stitching. Thence the intermediate strip stands approximately vertical, with a surface to which the barrier strip 26 may firmly adhere.

The barrier strip, an eighth of an inch thick, more or less, and nearly an inch high, thus covers the intermediate strip and all horizontal cleavages, and all, stitching; and is decorated at its upper exposed edge by the finish bead of piping 28. The intermediate strip is so thin and is so ends being spliced with cement under the shank;

but the heel portion of the shoe can be otherwise finished if desired, this being a matter of design.

The piping illustrated is merely a strip of leather doubled upon itself in the usual way, en- 15 closing a cord of filling material within its fold. In the drawing the piping extends to unusual depth, parallel to the intermediate strip. In usual specifications this would not go below midheight of the intermediate strip. The drawing 20 illustrates how it can serve as a filler, giving more body at this place if desired.

Thus there is produced a shoe which, at the sole, has only a minimum of inturned or lumpy intrusion, the inturned parts being only those 25 of the upper, which maybe skived smooth as represented; and at the sides the shoe is free from all defacements by lines of stitching or even by a visible horizontal cleft as in ordinary shoes between sole and upper, but has only a 30 clear-surfaced crepe band rising from the ground to well above the sole, where its smooth back face is joined to the upper by means which are practically invisible and which even may be concealed by the'providing of decorative piping or 5 calk filling.

When the shoe is being worn, the crepe side barrier flexes outward with notable ease, with the portion of the upper to which it is attached, responding to the spreading pressure of the o wearers foot when his weight rests thereon in taking a step.

I claim as my invention: 1. In a shoe, the combination with insole, upper, and rubber outsole, of an intermediate strip 45 of thin, flexible and strong material stitched around the lower outside face of the upper, and covering a substantial breadth of the material thereof; the outer face of this strip being flush with the edge face of the outsole; its lower edge 50 lying flush with the top surface of the outsole; and an upstanding surrounding strip of rubber adhesively secured to the edge of the outsole and to said intermediate strip, and having its own lower edge flush with the bottom face 55 of the outsole.

2. In a shoe, the combination with insole, upper, and rubber outsole, of an intermediate strip of thin flexible and strong material rigged on the lower outside face of the upper with its outer 0 surface flush with the edge of the outsole, extending upward from the outsole over a substantial breadth of the material of the upper, and stitched thereto; piping at the top edge of that strip, both edges of which piping are held 55 by the said stitches; and an upstanding surrounding strip of rubber adhesively secured to the edge of the outsole and to said intermediate strip, terminating below the top of the exposed part of the piping, and covering the said stitches 10 which hold the piping.

3. In a shoe, the combination with insole, upper, and a rubber outsole, of an intermediate strip of thin, flexible and strong material rigged I over a substantia breadth of the lower outside 76 face of the upper, flush with the edge of the outsole, and reaching upward from the top face of the edge portion of the outsole; and an upstanding surrounding strip of rubber adhesively secured to the edge of the outsole and to said intermediate strip; the securing of the intermediate strip to the upper being by a plurality of lines of stitches punctured laterally through the upper, including lines at the sole and top levels of the intermediate strip.

4. In a shoe, the combination with insole, upper, and rubber outsole, of an intermediate strip of canvas impregnated with rubber, stitched around the lower outside face of the upper, and covering a substantial breadth of the material of the upper, the outer face of this strip being flush with the edge of the outsole; and an upstanding surrounding strip of rubber, adhesively secured to the edge of the outsole and to said rubber impregnated strip.

5. A shoe comprising the combination, with an upper, an insole and a rubber outsole; of a strip of crepe rubber upstanding around the lower part of the vamp, having its lower edge level with the bottom of the sole, whence it rises the major piping to the vamp, the said crepe strip being arranged covering those stitches.

6. A shoe comprising an insole, upper, and a composite outsole stuck to the insole with the inturned portions of the upper intervening; said outsole comprising a layer of smoked rubber on the insole side, constituting a filler, and of crepe rubber for its main body; a barrier edge strip of rubber stuck to the edge of the composite out- 5 sole, its lower edge lying level with the bottom face of the outsole, and having such a breadth that it extends thence the major portion of an inch upward, beside the vamp; an intermediate thin, flexible strip of strong material, stitched 10 to the vamp in the region covered by the barrier strip with stitches close to the outsole, and also .at its top edge but covered by the said barrier strip; and a strip of piping caught by said upper row of stitches, having a-bead edge visible 15 above the upper edges of intermediate strip and barrier strip; the barrier strip being stuck also to said intermediate strip.

'7. The method of making a shoe which comprises cutting blank material in pattern for an 20 upper with a uniform marginal allowance for turn-in of the upper over the bottom of a last; stitching a strip to this blank along a line which is at a distance from its edge equal to the allowance, said strip being a thin, flexible intermediate 28 strip adapted for strong adhesive connection to rubber; followed by lasting and soling of the shoe, whereby the edge of the intermediate strip comes to theedge of the top face of the sole; and applying a side barrier strip of rubber by adhesive to the edge of the outsole and to the face of the intermediate strip.

JOHN S. KENT, JR. 

